


Life is a risk, but we will take it

by TheCloakedFlea



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Alex is kind of a detective, Angst, Band Fic, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Jealous Luke, Julie is oblivious, Kidnapping, M/M, Possession, Slow Build, protective bandmates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-05
Updated: 2020-10-09
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:21:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26838868
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheCloakedFlea/pseuds/TheCloakedFlea
Summary: The stamps are gone and Julie and the Phantoms are here to stay. Julie and Luke had a chance now, Alex and Willie can explore their budding relationship further, and the band can keep playing- everything seemed to be going the way it should. But, Caleb is far from happy that the boys got away and plans on making them pay through the one thing he knows they care about more than music, Julie. When Nick starts acting strangely and Willie informs Alex of Caleb's disappearance will the boys be able to put two and two together in time to save their lead singer?
Relationships: Alex & Caleb Covington & Julie Molina & Luke Patterson & Reggie & Willie, Alex & Julie Molina & Luke Patterson & Reggie, Alex & Willie (Julie and The Phantoms), Alex/Willie (Julie and The Phantoms), Julie Molina & Luke Patterson, Julie Molina/Luke Patterson
Comments: 7
Kudos: 129





	1. After The Orpheum

**Author's Note:**

> Hey Everyone! Thank you so much for clicking on my story! I have an idea where I want this story to go so I hope you stick along for the ride. With that, please sit back, relax, and enjoy the first chapter!

As much as they would have liked it to, the world didn’t stop spinning after the boys' stamps drifted off their wrist. The four of them stayed in that group hug for what felt like a combination of forever and no time at all before Julie half-heartedly slipped out. The protest came almost instantaneously from Reggie, Alex, and Luke, but the small frown on Julie's face showed she wasn’t leaving willingly.

“Dad will start to wonder what's taking me so long, and I do have school tomorrow,” She said rubbing the back of her neck, before throwing a quick glance over her shoulder and mumbling “But…three more seconds wouldn’t hurt.” Quickly, she trotted back over and squeezed all three of the boys again tightly before waving goodnight and disappearing out of the studio.

Luke, Reggie, and Alex just stood there for a moment, blinking back at each other before simultaneously erupting into a chorus of cheers. They were still there somehow, the stamps were gone, and Julie could touch them. None of it made sense, but to them, that didn’t matter. What mattered was they were still together, the  _ band _ was still together.

“Willie,” Alex said breathlessly, “I need to go tell him-“

“Wait,” Luke said, causing Alex to flash him a confused glance, “You might want to give it a few days, Caleb is probably pissed right now.”

“Yeah, we did ruin his little show by poofing out of there,” Reggie said nodding his head.

“It just might be safer to wait a while before going to look for Willie,” Luke said and Alex's face fell.

“But he thinks, he thinks we crossed over,” Alex said sitting down on the couch, sadness etched into his features. Luke and Reggie share a look before plopping down on either side of him, trying to comfort their friend.

Luke couldn't help but think back to what it felt like laying on the floor of the studio, holding in labored breaths and trying to will away the pain. What seemed, surprisingly, to be sharper than the physical pain enveloping him though was the pain of leaving Julie. The lingering fear of how she was going to handle losing him and the band as well as though he tried I couldn't push away how much it hurt thinking he would never see her again or even get to sing with her again. Luke sighed if Alex felt the same way with leaving Willie, having to sit useless while the boy believed he had crossed over must be its own kind of torture. 

“Well, the good thing is we got time now,” Reggie said, breaking the tension with a grin, “We lay low a few days, then go look for him.”

Alex nodded his head, muttering "thanks guys" before shooting them a small smile. It wouldn't be easy, but the boys were right. For Willie and his own sake, he had to stay away for a little while.

After a beat, Luke still can’t contain his bubbling excitement from the night's events. “Guys, we actually did it, we played the Orpheum,” he cheered, causing larger smiles to break out on both of his bandmate’s faces and suddenly they were all back to cheering and celebrating a show that was 25 years in the making. The possibilities for them, for the band as a whole, were endless now. Managers, record deals, all were sure to follow the gig and the four of them would be around to see it...together.

\----------

On the other side of Hollywood, in the Hollywood Ghost Club Caleb Carrington was far from pleased. Even if someone hadn't witnessed Caleb's new band poofing out mid-performance one by one, it would be clear to a person, or ghost, the depths of his anger by the way he brutally launched tables and chairs around the room.

The humans watching the scene were poofed out of the room in a blink of an eye, and Covington’s employees knew better to get in his way in his fit of anger. Soon it was just Caleb and an empty room when he had gotten most of his anger out on the chairs, and tables, and even going as far as to tear down one of the curtains on stage – he began to talk, to rant.

“Those, puny idiotic children,” He ranted, pacing the stage. “I offer them a world, their wildest dreams on a silver platter and they refuse, they poof out. For what, a little one-song performance with a girl they barely knew. A girl who couldn’t keep them rooted in this world.”

Then he stops mid-stride. She had thought; she had found some way to keep them to this world because he had felt the stamps leaving their wrist. It was like a burning sensation in his lungs. They had done the impossible, the unthinkable. What happens now?

It wouldn’t be long before someone else tried to break his hold on them. It would likely William, who held such a strong affection towards that Alex idiot. How long would it be till he was testing the bonds that tethered him to the ghost club? How long till he tried to break the chain holding him to Caleb?

Caleb couldn’t have that; no he needed to show those boys what happens when you cross Caleb Carrington – but how?

Then it clicked. The girl. Julie. She was the one fueling their strength, their defiance. She was the one who broke them out of their trance when the first came to his club. She was the one who pulled them out of his club so they could play their little gig together. Ultimately, she was the one who destroyed the stamps he branded them with.

To Caleb, it became so clear. This Julie was the only thing that the boys cherished as much as each other. She had become a part of them, and through her connection gave them strength. If she was on the line, they would do whatever possible to keep her safe. She was his key in, and Caleb would not make the mistake of letting her save Sunset Curve from their destiny of being his house band.

He would have to find a way in, a way to gain the girl’s trust, and then he would jump. He could see it now so vividly in his head that he couldn’t help but let out a laugh. He’d make sure Alex, Reggie, and Luke regretted ever walking out of his doors, and remind them that now they have something to lose.

  
  
  



	2. Words, Thoughts, Feelings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luke has a melody stuck in his head that's really familiar to Julie, a certain someone stops by the Molina household, and Willie has a message for Alex.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay, here is chapter two! Thank you for all the love on my first chapter, I'll do my best to update more frequently.

It had only been a couple of days, but Julie and her Phantoms were still in disbelief that they had pulled off the Orpheum show. Just as predicted their performance had reached a record number of streams on Youtube and the hashtag “JATP” even trended number one on Twitter for a few hours, not that Luke, Reggie, or Alex got what was so great about the band trending on a bird website.

Julie could only imagine what school would be like come Monday- anticipation and dread swirled around inside her. The band's newfound popularity wouldn’t go unnoticed by her classmates, quite a few of them had actually sent her congratulatory text already celebrating her successful show and expressing how they couldn't wait to see Julie and The Phantoms' next performance.

Since the newly established touching component had been figured out the four of them had spent barely any time apart. Currently, they were all scattered around Julie’s room as she worked on some homework she had been pushing off all weekend.

Reggie laid on her floor as he tried to figure out how to play games on Julie’s Nintendo switch, Alex was seated at Julie’s desk scrolling through websites trying to get caught up on all the pop culture events he had missed, and Luke laid back against Julie’s bed's headboard as he strummed mindlessly on a guitar. Julie herself was on the other end of her bed trying to figure out her history assignment as a familiar tune dragged her out of her train of thought.

“Luke,” Julie asked hesitantly, “What song is that?”

“In all honesty, I have no clue,” He replied as he ran his hands over the strings of the guitar. “Recently I’ve just had this melody stuck in my head and I can’t get it out no matter how hard I try.”

Julie bit her lip and nodded. _She_ knew why she recognized the melody but did not understand how Luke would know it. The lyrics that accompanied his cords sat securely in her dream box on her shelf, but she didn’t need to be reading them to remember how they went. _Perfect Harmony,_ her secret ballad she hadn’t shared with any of the boys yet, was somehow materializing in the room around her. Without a second thought when Luke started the chorus over again Julie began to sing.

 _“The truth is finally breaking through, two worlds collide when I'm with you,”_ Julie sang softly causing Luke to look up at her, surprise written all over his face. _“Our voices rise and soar so high, we come to life when we're, in perfect harmony.”_ She sang looking directly at him and Luke has to stop strumming after she finished because he is so caught off guard with how perfectly her lyrics match up with the tune.

“Why did you stop?” Alex asked spinning around in the chair, “That sounded good.”

“Yeah, when did you guys get a chance to work on that?” Reggie asked sitting up so his head could be seen over the edge of Julie's bed.

“We didn’t,” Luke said with a chuckle of amusement, “How did you…” he trailed off looking in Julie’s direction for guidance and noticed a small blush coating her features.

“I...uh...during dance class,” Julie stammered, blinking as she tried to get her words in order – not knowing how to explain who the song was about or why she wrote it. The boys looked at her with intrigued expressions, and as she opened her mouth again to try and explain the song the doorbell rang.

“Umm, I better go get that,” Julie said, standing and quickly rushing out of the room as Luke called after her, “You’re not off the hook!”

As she rounded the stairs and headed towards the front door, the three boys appeared in the living room causing her to jump slightly. She shot the three of them a look before taking a breath and opening the door partly. She was surprised to see Nick out on her steps holding a bouquet of flowers.

“Hi, Nick!” Julie said warmly as the boy spun around and presented the flowers to her. “Thanks,” She said with a sigh and smile after accepting them, opening the door more to welcome him into the house.

The three ghosts in the living room all exchanged glances, one in particular having a slightly sour look on his face. Luke remembered Nick from the day he visited Julie in school and remembered how obvious the boy had been about having feelings for her.

As Nick walking into the house, the boys realized he was gazing around as if he had never been there before, which to their knowledge may not have. Alex almost swore Nick saw them when he looked in their direction, but as he continued to scan the living room he chalked it up to him just overthinking.

“I just have to go grab a vase, one sec,” Julie called over her shoulder as she disappeared off into the kitchen and Nick made his way into the living room, stopping at a table with a few pictures on it. He took special intrest in running his thumb over one with a young Julie and her mom smiling and Luke wasn’t very fond of how intimate it felt.

“What he doing here?” Luke grumbled getting an eyebrow raise from Alex and a shrug from Reggie.

“From the looks of it, bringing Julie flowers,” Reggie said, oblivious to the tone in his friend's voice, and peered over at Nick who had moved on to looking at the books in the bookcase.

“Who is this “Nick," Julie’s never mentioned him,” Reggie said out of curiosity and Alex could tell by the way Luke tensed up that this boy must have some sort of connection to Julie.

“He's just some kid from her dance class who has a crush on her,” Luke said puffing out his chest slightly, “Horrible at flirting though, embarrassing really.” Luke took a few steps closer trying to see what was so god dang interesting about a bookcase to the teenage boy.

“Smooth Luke,” Alex said as he leaned on the couch, “Why not just write _jealous_ across your forehead?” This caused Reggie to laugh and Luke exhale and shake his head.

“He’s just so…meh,” Luke said leaning over the blonde boy's shoulder, “I don’t get what Julie could see in him.”

“Didn’t Julie say she wrote that song during dance-“ Reggie started, connecting Nick being from dance class as Julie’s explanation about the lyrics, only stopping when Alex shot him a quick look begging him not to continue but it was too late. Luke had connected the same dots and his heart dropped.

Suddenly Julie was back in the room and snapped out a quick “What are you doing!?” before she truly assessed the scene. Nick spun around looking as if he had been caught red-handed, Luke followed in suit but physically raised his hand and took a step away from the other boy. Julie mentally rolled her eyes, _of course Nick wouldn’t realize I was talking to my invisible ghost bandmate who apparently has no clue what personal space is,_ Julie quickly thought before clearing her throat and speaking again.

“Sorry, what I meant to say is what are you still doing standing, Please sit,” She gestured to the couch Alex wasn’t leaning on as she plopped down and Nick followed closely behind her. Everyone but Julie seemed to notice how close she and Nick were, their knees centimeters from knocking against each other as Julie gestured over to the flowers.

“They're so pretty,” She said looking at the pink blossoms she had sat on the coffee table, “I love dahlias, thank you.”

“I know,” Nick said with a smile that made Luke’s blood boil, “They were your Mom’s favorite right?”

“Come on,” Luke groaned as he dropped onto the sofa near Alex, “You can’t be buying this Julie,” He addressed her but she made no motion indicating that she heard him.

“Yeah,” Julie said with a small smile, before realizing, “Wait, how did you know that?”

“Um, The Orpheum. I saw it on your keyboard there,” Nick backtracked, “You absolutely killed it by the way.”

“You were there?” Julie said raising her eyebrows in surprise, “I didn’t realize you were a Panic at the Disco fan?” She assumed he already had tickets to the show and just caught her performance by chance but was proved wrong when her classmate shook his head.

“I’m not, I’m a _Julie_ and the Phantoms fan,” He said, empasising the first word in the bands name and Luke couldn’t help but groan out loud. “You didn’t think I’d miss your big night did you?”

Alex was caught off guard by a weird sense of Déjà vu at Nick’s words. Something about him seemed off, but Alex couldn’t quite put his finger on it. He threw a glance at a Reggie and Luke but neither seemed to be picking up on the same thing. Reggie was watching with wide eyes and an amused face while Luke look like he wanted to be anywhere but there right now.

“You’re too sweet,” Julie said, and that’s when she noticed something. Nick seemed to be looking at her so intently, almost as if he was studying her face for the first time.

“Everything okay?” Julie asked and Nick blinked a few times before that, in Luke’s opinion, blood-boiling smile reappeared.

“Yeah, everything great. I just, ummmm,” Nick took a deep breath, and suddenly Julie knew what he was to say even before it left his mouth. For a split second, she wished she had the power to just poof out like Luke, Reggie, and Alex.

“I know, you didn’t exactly say yes last time,” Julie watched in vain as Nick's demeanor shifted to a more nervous one, “but I wanted to ask if you’d give me a chance-“

All three boys Jaw dropped, shocked by what they just heard. Sure Luke, Alex, and Reggie knew Julie was a teenage girl who most definitely had crushes on people and who people had crushes on, but they were completely unaware Julie and Nick had even had a previous conversation about “Chances” or whatever. Luke in particular was not the biggest fan of the direction the conversation was going.

“Nick,” Julie started and the boy stood up quickly extending his arms trying to signal her to stop speaking.

“Before you say anything…just think about it. One date is all I ask, just give me one chance to completely wow you.”

“Wow-“ Reggie said with a gasp, and Julie sighed ready to respond but Nick took the gap of silence as a way quickly finish his thought before seeing himself out.

“I don’t need an answer right now, just think about it. I’ll see you at school tomorrow.” And with that he left, leaving Julie and her three gaping ghost starring at the closed door.

There was a pause and Julie could feel three sets of eyes on her. She quickly raised her hand and walked off towards the stairs.

“Just…” She started turning to look back at them, “Forget that happened. I’m going back to my homework... I’ll catch you guys later.” She then quickly race up the stairs leaving the three boys in the living room looking at each other…well really leaving Alex and Reggie to look at Luke who couldn’t seem to pull his eyes away from a retreating Julie.

“You know,” Reggie said wiggle his eyebrows, “If he said he had to ask again that means she said no the first time…I wonder why?”

“Yeah,” Luke said, his eyes never leaving the stairs, “I wonder why.”

\---------

“Come in!” Julie called after a brief knock on the door, and wasn’t surprised when Luke walked through the door. With a sigh Julie closed her textbook and crossed her hands, looking at Luke and waiting. But there was a beat, and Luke had a confused look on his face.

“I feel like I’m missing something,” He said with a laugh and Julie cocked her head in surprise.

“I’m waiting for the…ya know…I told you so?” Julie said, anticipating the stereotypical smirk that Luke always seemed to wear when he was right. Instead of a smirk, Luke just smiled, then walked over and flopped on Julie's bed beside her.

“While I’m thrilled you recognized that I called his little crush on you,” Luke said causing Julie to roll her eyes, “I’m more interested in why he had to ask you twice, as Reggie pointed out downstairs."

Julie swallowed as her eyes darted down and she began to play with the embroidery on her bedspread like it was the most interesting thing in the world. How was she supposed to tell Luke the reason she had turned down Nick was that she had feeling for someone else, that someone else being him.

“We just don’t have that…connection I guess?” Julie said looking back over at Luke who nodded along to her words, secretly pumped that she didn’t see blondie as anything more than a friend. But there was another question looming that he needed an answer to and for his sanity he hoped he was wrong.

“I would have guessed you two were in _perfect harmony_ ,” Luke said with a small grin and Julie rolled her eyes again before sliding off her bed to put her notes back in her bag, realizing studying with Luke in the room was going to be impossible.

“You’re not going to let that go are you,” Julie said turning back to face Luke and crossing her arms in front of her. He flashed her a smile and Julie couldn’t help but smile back.

“Well, what am I supposed to think,” Luke said rolling over to lay on his stomach, “You told us you wrote the song during dance class, _he's_ in your dance class, and that song seems to be pretty personal-“ Luke’s voice begins to falter as suddenly he felt emotions welling up inside him. Luke realized if Julie was going to be writing any love songs he wanted them to be about him. If she was going to feel that deeply or strongly about someone, he wanted that to be about him too.

"Luke," Julie said after seeing the shift in his demeanor, "It's... the song is not about him."

"Oh, so you've been holding out on us Julie," Luke said trying to force a laugh, "Got another boyfriend hiding up your sleeve?"

"More like hiding in my garage," Julie mumbled to herself, before heading over to her dream box and sliding out the top sheet of paper.

"These," She said handing the lyrics to him, "Might make it easier figuring out who this song is about."

Luke’s eyes poured over the lyrics, drinking in the words that only Julie Molina could write so poetically. Soon lines started to stand out to him, _But when he goes, I know he doesn't leave_ and _You and me together is more than chemistry_ in particular catching his attention.

After he had finished reading the lyrics, his eyes flickered back up to Julie not really knowing what to say. “This is…wow.” Was all he could get out and Julie just bit her lip and looked down at her feet.

“It’s supposed to be a duet,” she said and feeling a surge of confidence Luke closed the distance between the two and took one of her hands in his – grinning widely when her hand doesn’t slip through as it had all those days ago in front of her house.

“I’d love to sing it with you, if that’s okay,” Luke said as Julie’s eyes rose to meet his and he felt his heart pick up speed. Whatever their “interesting” little relationship was, he wanted more. He wanted so so much more with her.

“I’d like that,” Julie said softly squeezing his hand and grinning as he squeezed back, a whole conversation passing between their fingers and their eyes without ever saying a word.

\-----

"He's been up there a while," Reggie says from his spot on the couch in the studio, and Alex hums in agreement. Luke had followed after Julie up the stairs a few minutes after she had raced off leaving Alex and Reggie to share a knowing glance before venturing off into the garage.

Alex’s mind was elsewhere though. He couldn’t seem to pull his thoughts away from the boy who had visited the house earlier. Something was off, Alex knew it, but for the life of him, he could not put his finger on it.

“Hello?” Reggie said waving his hand in front of the boy's face, causing Alex to snap back to attention. “Where’d ya go?”

“Nowhere, I was just thinking about-“ Alex started before Reggie cut him off.

“Willie!” The other boy said and Alex blushed.

“God was I really that obvious,” Alex said and Reggie shook his head violently.

“No, Willie! He’s here,” Reggie said pointing and sure enough, Willie was in the doorway to the studio and Alex heart leaped.

Within moment Alex had launched himself off the couch and wrapped his arms around the ghost in a tight embrace. It had been days since they had seen each other last, but Alex missed him more than words could express.

Willie hugged him back with the same intensity, squeezing the boy as if in a few moments he would disappear. Both of them had believed that the last time they had seen each other would be their last, with Alex having to cross over and all, so being able to see, to talk, to touch one another was like having their deepest wish come true.

“I’ll give you two some space,” Reggie said, poofing out of the studio before the two boys had even broken apart.

“You’re here,” Alex said when they did break apart and Willie nodded his head with a smile. Then something clicked and fear rooted deep in Alex’s stomach. “Oh my god you’re here, what about Caleb?” Alex began to worry.

“The whole reason I didn’t come see you was because of Caleb and what he could do if he knew you knew we were still here and-“

“Hotdog,” Willie said silencing the boy with the nickname, “That’s why I’m here.” Then, Willie quickly corrected himself, “Why I can be here.”

“Huh,” Alex said not understanding.

“It’s about Caleb,” Willie said concern coating his face, “He’s missing.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh no, I'm sure *no one* has any clue where Caleb is. Thank you so much for reading - if you want to check out some more of my stuff you can head over to my Tumblr oozing-chemistry.


End file.
